VDH: Iran's end-of-days world view

Victor Davis Hansen has a must-read that we almost missed with details of Iran president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's apocalyptic mind-set. Chillingly it explains why the players on the Middle East stage are changing and, indirectly, why our own role to preventing a massive blowup is becoming more limited.

VDH starts off with a bang:

"The skirmishes in the occupied land are part of a war of destiny. The outcome of hundreds of years of war will be defined in Palestinian land. As the Imam said, Israel must be wiped off the map." So rants Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Given his apocalyptic rhetoric, we can understand why Mr. Ahmadinejad might want an arsenal of nuclear missiles. He would be able to shake down a constant stream of rich European emissaries, threaten the Arab Gulf states to lower oil production, neutralize U.S. influence in the region -- and, of course, destroy Israel.
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So the name of the haloed Mr. Ahmadinejad will live for the ages -- but only if he alone takes out the crusader interloper in Jerusalem.

There's more for the non-ostrich among us.